Labour conference ends with terror warning

TERRORISM continued to cast a long shadow over the Labour conference in Manchester as the three day event came to a close. John Prescott and Health Secretary John Reid, warned that it was a threat without limit.

TERRORISM continued to cast a long shadow over the Labour conference in Manchester as the three day event came to a close.

John Prescott and Health Secretary John Reid, warned that it was a threat without limit.

Deputy prime minister Mr Prescott, back from Madrid after taking part in a protest against the Spanish bomb massacres on Thursday that killed 200, said: "Bombs have broken that country's heart, but they have not crushed its spirit and they never will.

"I was moved by the scale of the protest. Millions came. Voices heard around the world.

"I was proud to link arms with leaders from around Europe and with people from all over Spain. In their grief and anger we stand with them. Their fight is our fight too. Barbaric terrorism recognises no national boundary. Extremism, by its nature, knows no limit.

"They chose Madrid but no city on earth is safe. The people of Manchester know that."

Purpose

Dr Reid said the violence had a "very definite purpose".

"The purpose of terrorism is to break our will, to shatter our morale, to undermine our confidence and to make people so frightened they will bend the knee to the terrorists rather than stand up for what is right," he said.

"While like everyone else I was filled with sadness, I was also filled with admiration for the Spanish people when they came together in unity and in solidarity.

"Let's all remember this. The bombs may have been in Madrid this time, but it was not just our Spanish brothers and sisters who were on those trains last Thursday morning.

"We were all on those trains together and we send the same message."

The cabinet ministers were speaking amid mounting evidence the blasts in Spain might have been the work of an Islamic terror group rather than the Basque separatist group ETA.

Elections

A videotape claiming al Qaida planted the bombs was being analysed and police were questioning five men, including three Moroccans.

The tape featured a man who identified himself as the European "military spokesman" of Osama bin Laden's feared terrorist group.

The man spoke with a Moroccan accent, said the Spanish interior minister. Ana Palacio, Spain's foreign minister, today insisted that there was still a "strong" possibility of ETA being responsible.

Mr Prescott went on to urge party members to turn their minds to winning crucial local government and European elections in June.

He pilloried Conservative leader Michael Howard as the "Missing Link" between "the shame of past Tory crimes and the chilling prospect of their future misdeeds".

But he also admitted the party had a new spring in their step after dumping Iain Duncan Smith, saying: "We will have to work hard to keep the trust of the electorate."